a record setting day on wall street...can the hot streak continue? in today's cover story.. new protecitons for whistle blowers. will it encourage employees to speak up... plus...words of warning you need to hear before turning in your taxes. and.... the company that orchestrated the most famous re-tweet ever... first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's wednesday, march 5th i'm angela miles. in today's first look: the s&p rises to a new record high as the standoff between russia and the ukraine becomes "less tense". it's the 49th record set by the index. the dow- also had a positive reaction jumping 228 points, the nasdaq 75 and the s&p 28

gold scaled back $15 dollars and oil.. $1.63. caterpillar's ceo says he is guardedly optimistic about the global economy...which added into the buying blitz on wall street. and the power of the plug. yesterday we told you about the fuel cell stock plug power that surged 24% monday well on tuesdays it rallied 15% more.. trader daniel stecich of athena advisor services joins us now. there was a collective sigh of relief in the market yesterday but will that continue? >>i think it will. you have to put what happened in russia behind us and if you look at what happened over the course of the last week, the market had a decent gain. if you could take monday's loss out of itwe closed friday around 18.56 with a high of 18.59. you take all that out of it and we gained a few points no doubt and i think

that's because of economic data. that's what we need to look at right now. >>exactly. we have a lot of it coming in today as well as the jobs number on friday. >>yeah, the big one today is going to be the institute of supply and management non- manufacturing. keep in mind that 70% of our economy is driven by consumer demand. i believe this number will be good. we had a good manufacturing number. there's no reason to think this one won't be. the big question is going to be employment on friday. i'm hoping for a better number. overall, i think we're looking pretty good and the market's on its way up. >>thanks daniel. >>you're welcome. let's turn to chuck coppola now for an update on how the u.s. is dealing with the russian - ukraine crisis. angie, president obama is urging swift action from lawmakers for economic aid to ukraine. "there is something immediately congress can do to help us and that is to help finance the economic package that can stabilize the economy in ukraine." the president introduced a one billion dollar aid package for ukraine's economy, as secretary

of state john kerry met with government officials in kiev. mr kerry then met with russia's foreign minister in the first meeting since the crisis began. tensions have been on the rise since russian troops invaded crimea, a region populated by both ukrainian and russian citizens. the white house is preparing economic sanctions if russia does not comply with the request to remove troops from crimea, within days. russian president vladmir putin contends russia reserves the right to protect its people. as tensions simmer down for now-- russia is stepping up its natural gas game. russia is the second largest producer of the energy...and much of its oil flows through ukrainian pipelines to the rest of europe. russian natural gas monopoly gazprom plans to discontinue discounts on the nat gas it delivers to ukraine starting early next month. gazprom claims the ukraine is not fulfilling contractual obligations. fox business news analyst and oil trader phil flynn has this take.. " when we look at ukraine it's kind of the tale of two markets: you've got the european market that has been very volatile based on the headlines coming out of russia and the

ukraine and of course here in the u.s. we're mainly focused on this ridiculously cold weather. so, you put it together: we've got a cold war, cold weather, natural gas is going to continue to be crazy." natural gas futures spiked almost 4% yesterday. a budget blueprint for the u.s. is on the table. president obama's 4 trillion dollar proposal includes 56 billion dollars of investment spending for pre-k education, infrastructure, and job training programs. it raises taxes on wealthy americans and includes an overhaul of the corporate tax code that would end loopholes. the white house budget office projects-- the proposals reduce the federal deficit to $564 billion by 20-15--- taking the defict down by about half of what the obama administration inherited. house speaker john boehner criticized the spending increases, and called it the president's "most irresponsible budget yet."

radio shack is on shaky ground with investors...the stock fell 17% yesterday after turning in a larger than expected loss for the 4th quarter. the electronics retailer also plans to close up to 1,100 stores. radio shack's ceo admits the company is partly to blame for the dismal holiday earnings. however, he remains confident in the turnaround plan. a week after online exchange mt. gox lost close to a half- billion dollars' worth of bitcoins to hackers, another exchange says the same thing has happened to them flexcoin has shut down, saying that hackers stole all of its bitcoins -- 600-thousand-dollars' worth. these troubles have not negatively affected the value of bitcoins ---just one is still worth about 700-dollars. that price has rallied since the mt gox hack. a judge is telling bp to pay up. bp failed in court to block businesses from recovering money from the oil spill in the gulf of mexico-- even if those businesses have no evidence of losing money because of the disaster.bp attorneys argued

some claims could be fictitious. the company is supposed to pay $42 billion for clean up and compensation related to the spill. moving forward --bp is creating a new company based in houston to oversee onshore production of oil and natural gas. an apple exec is leaving the company to join goldman sachs. apple's chief financial officer peter oppenheimer will retire at the end of september, and join the board of directors at goldman. luca maestri will transition into the role in june. he currently serves as senior v-p of finance. he's also had stints at nokia simens, xerox, and general motors. the ceo of ge is putting his money where his mouth is...jeff immelt is showing his confidence in the company by investing his entire 2013 bonus in ge stock. he purchased nearly 104,000 shares. paying $2.6 million.. immelt tells shareholders: i believe in ge. ge stock currently trades around $25 dollars. rising 2% on immelts move.. in our cover story, the supreme court expands federal protections for whistleblowers. after the enron scandal,

employees of public companies were protected from retaliation, including firing if they blew the whistle on activities that could jeorpardize investor holdings. now, employees of private companies working on behalf of a public company have those same safeguards. the supreme court ruled that two employees of fidelity investments, america's 23rd largest private company, were passed over for promotion, and threatened with charges of insubordination for alerting supervisors of improper accounting practices involving fidelity's mutual funds--it's public companies. "i think it's a big deal and will be a bigger deal as more people are aware of this case in the financial industry." in a 6-to-3 decision, the justices extended lessons learned from the enron scandal in which a whistleblower exposed enron's investor deception as "an accounting hoax."

"they really are serving in the interests of investors. and by extending protections, they help investors who do not know who to ask or do not have access and need whistleblowers to protect the investors." fidelity's parent company, f-m- r (fidelity management and research) argued that the congrssional post-enron wall street reform law known as the sarbanes-oxley act only applied to employees of public companies and that extending protections beyond would lead to a flood of lawsuits. now, the justices ruling may be applied to wide range of advisors. "the accountants, the lawyers, any private company that works with public companies has to pay attention and handle complaints from their employees." fidelity investments was

reorganized in 2007. three dissenting justices called the ruling "a stunning reach" that could protect household employees such as babysitters. the national federation of independent business predicted it would lead to "aggressive litigation" against employers. former fed chair ben bernanke is speaking out. in his first speaking engagement since leaving the federal reserve for 8 years..bernanke told a group of bankers in abu dhabi. the central bank did well in a complex situation but could have done more to fight the financial crisis by going more agressive with monetary policy. and that the u.s. economy could have recovered faster. bernanke also shared --it was challenging to measure his words to investors. it's estimated bernanke commanded a quarter of a million dollars for his speech. chevron may avoid paying a 9 and a half billion dollar fine. a judge has ruled in favor of

chevron in a case dating back to 20-11. ecuadoran villagers sued the corporation---accusing it of polluting the amazon rainforest. a judge ruled that lawyers for the ecuadoran side engaged in criminal behavor and submitted fradulent evidence to obtain the verdict. chevron calls the ruling a resounding victory for the corporation and its shareholders. in puerto rico-- the governor is siging off on a bond sale to pay down deep debt. according to reports $3.5 billion in bonds will be sold to pay off $70 billion in debt. puerto rico is in its eighth year of recession. the u.s. territory's debt rating was recently downgraded to junk. facebook is reportedly mulling another big purchase. active in bringing affordable internet access to underserved areas, the social media company is eyeing drone maker titan aeropsace. titan makes solar- powered drones that fly for up to five years without needing to land. the drones would blanket parts of the world with new internet access. the deal is said to be in the $60 million range. tesla motors intends to get its electric cars traveling anywhere in europe by the end of the year as it adds 30 supercharge and service stations. the automaker also expects that by the end of this year combined sales in europe and asia will be double those

in the u-s tesla shares revved up $4 dollars to $254 dollars yesterday. americans are in a frenzy to borrow money to buy cars and trucks. longer, and more expensive loans are trending big in the auto market right now. twenty-percent of new car loans in the 4th quarter were for longer than six years. the average loan amount--- edged above 27 thousand dollars setting a new record! according to experian automotive more americans are buying pricier suvs, full-size pickups and jacking them up by adding on infotainment systems and gps. and, that oscar's "selfie". was no accident. host ellen degeneres used a "samsumg galaxy phone" to take the now famous shot of celebs.. samsung reportedly paid close to $20 million for product placement.. clearly it worked!

still to come: why you could be on the hook for mistakes by the person who does your taxes. plus...we'll reveal "where in the world" is the most expensive place to live. flood zones in the u.s. face an even bigger threat: rising insurance rates. we'll be right back!

people living in flood-prone areas of the nation are reeling from steep hikes in the amount shell out for flood insurance. rates are rising dramatically after lawmakers quietly ended subsidies under a government flood insurance program. jackie keenan takes us to florida where some business owners are feeling "under water." the forecast for florida's homeowners: stormy. flood-insurance hikes are in

full-effect and the result is devastating. homeowners in flood-zones all across the country long enjoyed subsidized rates through fema's national flood insurance program. but due to the quietly-passed biggert-waters bill, homeowners lost the subsidy so bills are skyrocketing. most premiums are increasing by 20 percent a year, but if the property was bought after the bill was passed in june of 2012, the full actuarial rate is due now. some rates are jumping 1000 percent. the law is hitting homeowners, and businesses, hard. joe caruso bought a run-down inn in 2013 and was paying 5,000-dollars per year for flood insurance. now the historic property, which has never been flooded,has a premium of 43,000 dollars per year. he says he may not have the cash to renovate it fully. when you take all the

properties i've owned throughout the years and all the premiums i've paid, they've made money off of me. floridians are paying more into the system then what's coming out. in fact, over the last thirty years florida has paid 16 billion dollars into the national flood insurance program, but only made claims of 4 billion dollars. robin sollie runs the tampa bay beaches chamber of commerce and says her members are angry. we have to understand the true trickle-down effect this will have on the economy. - we could be going through a whole other foreclosure crisis. coldwell banker branch manager scott humphries says the flood- insurance problem is wreaking havoc on the real-estate market. the market really slowed down, and we saw a lot of buyer

activity, and listing activity taper off. one promising solution for floridians is from the state legislature. it put an easing on regulations so private insurers are able to write premiums for homeowners. but most residents and business owners agree a solution needs to come from capitol hill. right now, if there are elected officials not looking out for your best interests, don't vote that person back into the legislature. look for someone that can change what's happening. but no real solution is on the horizon for florida's homeowners. for first business news, i'm jackie keenan. the house could vote this week on the homeowner flood insurance affordaility act. singapore is now the world's most expensive place to live topping paris, france ..oslo, norway... zurich, switzerland ...and sydney, australia. last year's "number one" was tokyo, which fell to 6th place. singapore surged to the top of the list due to a strong currency, along with skyrocketing real estate, utilities and car costs. thanks chuck! coming up....a record setting day for the russell-- why small cap stocks on the rise.. and-- why you might want to do some digging into your tax preparers past! bill moller steps in, after this break!

filling out your taxes isn't easy. that's why we pay somebody else to do it. turns out, not all tax preparers know what they're doing and you might be surprised this is a very lightly regulated industry. jackie lynn coleman is president and ceo of the national community tax coalition. what is the truth about the integrity & competency of some tax preparers? >>the truth is that we really don't know. what we do know is most cpa's and enrolled agents are actually certified and qualified to do your tax return but the majority of the tax preparers out there they are not. they have not been certified. they don't take any tests. they don't take the training necessarily either. >>they just hang out their shingle and say i can prepare your taxes.

>>absolutely. >>so what are the horror stories for those who aren't regulated? what have you heard? >>what i have heard is at the end of the day the taxpayer is on the hook to take the rap if there is anything wrong with their tax return. the other thing that we find out is that some folks that actually hang their shingle out there disappear right after the tax season and then you can't find them. so where do you go for additional help then? >>what you said was pretty important. you the taxpayerthat's the responsible party. that's the person the irs comes after if there is a mistake or errornot the preparer. >>that's absolutely right. so it's very important that people actually pay attention and ask specific questions to the tax preparer before they actually make a move. >>so let's go through the listwhat are the things i should do to vete a preparer?

>>so if you want to vete a preparer one of the key questions you should be asking is whether or not they have a p10. that is a preparer tax identification number. >>p10? >>p10. preparer tax identification number which is issued by the internal revenue service. the other thing is that you should make sure that your tax preparer is asking you for all documents. all of your income documents and identification documents as well. the other thing that is really critical in this process is that we've also heard horrible stories about people being victims of identity theft. sharing of children, putting another child's social security number on another person's return. >>make sure you check with the bbb and if they say something like my fee is going to be based on the size of the return you should run away. >>run fast. run really fast if they say that. >>jackie coleman thanks so much. >>thank you. thanks much bill...the russel rises. what a new record for the etf means for the rest of the stock market... chart talk is next.

talking to veterans about the real issues they're dealing with can be awkward and uncomfortable. we think to ourselves, "i never served. how could i understand? they'll talk about it when they're ready." and then we wonder why they don't want to talk. but when their behavior changes, when they withdraw to themselves, increase substance use, or even talk about hurting themselves, it's time to act. because if we don't, our families and relationships will suffer. ask the hard questions. listen to the veterans in your life and show you care. make the call. it matters. when you recognize a veteran is in crisis, call the veterans crisis line at 1-800-273-8255 and press "1".

in chart talk this morning, we are bringing in dan deming of stutland equities. good morning dan. >>good morning angie. >>you are watching that record ride in the russel 2000. now that small caps are showing some new numbers, what does that mean for the greater market? >>certainly it's a positive. it's serves as a support for the overall market. it's nice to see the small cap sector supporting this runup in some of the other major averages. now the dow is still struggling a little bit. so those large caps really relative to the market have not performed as well. but it's a good foundation for this market particularly as you see this maket pushing to what you

consider new highs across the board. >>with the ukraine crisis situation and the volatility index cooling off, does that give us an all clear signal or do traders think that more could be ahead? >>i think that you saw quite a reaction yesterday and much more of a reaction than i think most of us expected. i wouldn't say it's an all clearcertainly a relief rally. i think you saw some shortcovering going on as the day moved forward as well. we do have some big numbers coming out later this week so i think there are some issues we're going to have to contend with over the next couple of days. the vix got down to 14still not down near its lows that we saw a couple months ago. so you're still seeing vol firm as we see the market pushing to new highs. >>thank you dan. >>you're welcome angie. that's caps off our day.. coming up tomorrow in movies & money--now that the oscar show is wrap our critic calls the winner for this weekend.will it be mr peabody and sherman or 300 rise of an empire. flick us on to find out. from all of us at first business.. have a great day!

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